10mm Russian Infantry

So onto something I've been dreading and that is painting the 100 plus Russian infantry! After a little research and question asking on the Northag Facebook page I had a few ideas on what colours I could use.

The next question was whether or not to paint them on the sprue or the base? Initially I chose the sprue, but half way through I changed my mind and switched to the bases, its all trial and error especially with a new scale. I mount my 15mm on nails first for painting and then transfer them to the base afterwards.

Paints

Vallejo Middlestone 70.882 for the Basecoat (although halfway through I used a generic black primer first to help highlight any gaps)

Vallejo German Grey 70.995 for the boots and weapons

Flames of war Flat Earth 983 for the stocks and magazines

Vallejo Sunny Skin Tone 70.845 for the flesh

Vallejo Khaki 70.988 for the webbing

Flames of War Russian Uniform 924 for the helmet and missile weapons

Citadel Agrax Earthshade for the wash

Vallejo Matt Varnish 70.520 for the finish

Generic Burnt Umber acrylic for the bases.

Finally before I could start some minor cleaning up with scalpel, and then onto the first coat, its been said you don't need to prime these models so I thought I'd try it out. Later on through the process I noticed gaps where I'd missed spots, so I returned to my tried and tested prime with a black spray can at the halfway point.

So I started painting four to completion to test the scheme.

Post wash.

These are the clips I used for handles and the drying off of the wash. I was tired and didn't consider that the wash would pool in the wrong places! I managed to rectify most of it with a little water the next day.

On the bases so much easier!

A finished selection

Based with a mixture of Jarvis flocks.

At this scale I'm not even attempting to texture the bases!

Final thoughts

Firstly I thought I'd taken more photos of the painting process, I hadn't! You can paint directly onto the models without primer, I won't again as it hides my mistakes until later on, maybe I need glasses??

Whilst Im not the best painter I'm learning all the time, if you don't thin your paints enough at this scale the detail will disappear. Also the same for you wash, too much and you'll obscure everything you've done.

10mm doesn't require you to be that accurate and detailed, once your three feet away you'll be lucky to see any detail. However if I splog sunny skin tone on the uniform I have to touch it all up and hide it.

I painted them as I've said in two batches and found that attaching them to the bases mounted on a six inch nail sped up the process. This also allows me to easily twist it to get the desired angle to paint.

Some minor flash is visible close up but not when it's on the table.

Honestly whilst its time consuming because there are so many, they weren't that hard to paint.

Next up the British!